Infertility?

[Hybridfish7]

I have a pair of honduran red points. Gorgeous pair, and I'd really like fry out of them.

Only thing is, their eggs die within 1-3 days in spite of the female constantly cleaning and fanning them. Could my male possibly be infertile? I've noticed things like this in rainbow cichlids (pair spawned 6 times, eggs never hatched) and when my cutteri stole the female from my nanolutea and spawned 4 times (eggs never hatched... luckily), and in regards to the latter, when paired back with an actual male nanolutea, as you have probably seen in my prior posts, the female is obviously very fertile. Which leads me to have the general consensus that
a. cutteri cannot hybridize with nanolutea
b. subsequently, cutteri cannot successfully fertilize nanolutea eggs
c. when eggs die repeatedly with one male but not another, male is probably infertile
Would you say my beliefs are true? Should I try pairing my female with another male? I am cautious of pairing my female with another male because
- she is my last female
- she has very unique/extreme coloration
- my only other good looking male killed his female after they spawned, scared that if I pair her with him he will repeat the process

 

[duanes]

There are many reasons eggs donn't hatch, beyond simply an infertile parent.

If pH is too low, certain cichlid eggs won't hatch.
If pH is "too" one way or the other, you may end up with all females, or all males.
If nitrate is too high, certain cichlid eggs won't hatch.
If conductivity and hardness are out of the normal required range, some spawns won't hatch.
Some cichlids require a high tannin content (antibacterial) for eggs to hatch, and fry to survive.

A very interesting phenomenon for Malagasy cichlids of the genus Paretroplus,is that certain sounds can determine whether of not a spawn is or isn't successful. They have a different way of perceiving sounds than all other cichlids (except Etroplus from India)
It seems in tanks the mechanical sounds of pumps, aerators etc, have an adverse effect.
But in ponds, successful spawning seems easier.
It may also be stray voltage, (?)

In nature when rainbow cichlids spawn they fan out onto flooded grasslands, where the low pH, and low conductivity of rain water may have an effect.

 

[Hybridfish7]

Ah that makes sense, but it mildly confuses me because there is a decently high tannin count in the water and the ph is around neutral with a high tds. Also my septemfasciata have successfully spawned in the tank as well. As for the rainbows, thank you for that insight, I'll keep that in mind with the next pair I'm getting.
Also very interesting on the ph sex ratio bit, I didn't know it applied to all cichlids, I just heard it applied to apistos (in terms of it affecting sex ratios in cichlids, I'd heard of the phenomenon being widespread in anabantoids)

 

[Gman9272]

I have noticed similar things with my Honduran red point pair each spawn eggs look good female fans and cleans them. Then they disappear. I have had wrigglers from them twice and free swimming once but I always lose them. I know my male is fertile because he had a previous spawn with a different female almost a year ago but I can’t get the fry to fully develop